Alright chaps,

Not a polo as such, but i thought ud all like to see what I've been upto!

I've had about 10 polos over the years, and this would be my third Caddy.

My first was (And i still have it) a MK1 Pick up. Then i bought a MK2 SDI a few years ago, and sold it last year.

Then recently, i bought this on ebay!

I was getting free fuel from work, so was keeping an eye out for a petrol Caddy. It had to be Petrol, and it had to be anything but White (as my last one was white)

I found this....

Caddy Mk2. 1.4 16v Petrol. Its the 75BHP engine. and Compared to my old SDI its actually pretty nippy. I get about 40 MPG from it!

Paid £400 for it! Which i think is a bargain! Not much tax or MOT left and it had the a warning light on, and a really tatty pair of rear doors. But MINT underneath and inside and its only done 58,000 miles!

So i got it home, and straight away got a load of jobs done.

New radiator

New Alternator (Which fixed the warning light)

New Coil Pack

Oil and service

New discs and pads

Clutch cable (Just because the one in my old van broke, so i wanted it doing)

Both front wheel bearings replaced.

Basically, a dam good sorting out!

Got a fresh MOT on it and it sailed through! They commented on how tidy it was under the bonnet and underneath!

Then, i had it lowered with some V-Maxx Coilovers up front and an axle flip out back!

NO RUST! :)

Next, a trip to the scrap yard, and my lucky day! I found a Ibiza GTI Cupra, and got the front seats which were mint, and the wheels with near new tyres for a grand total of £70 for the lot!!!! :)

So then she started to look like this...

Having done all the usual bits: Clear indicators, All Red rear lights, Aero wiper blades, bits like that, it was all starting to come together.

I fitted a decent stereo up front and upgraded the speakers in the doors and dash with Alpine ones. I got a cup holder from an Arosa

A sun glasses holder from an Astra

A new Gear knob and gaitor from a Polo Dune

Lots of bits inside (Ill get pics soon)

The thing that was letting it down WAS the state of the rear.

Inside its super clean, but the rear doors and the rear bumper were battered!

Original Ebay pic..

So i booked a few days off work, and last week came up to my dads workshop in Lincolnshire and stared to get that sorted!

I decided to wipe the slate with the doors, and clean off the wiper, the jet, the badge, the handle.. everything!

So i bought a popper/solinoid kit. (Which i have wired up to the old rear heater switch)

I've also tinted the rear glass.

A few days ago we started with the welding..

Then over the weekend got it all filled and smoothed. Heated the rear bumper with a heat gun and managed to get it all sorted and nice and straight.. so it was looking like this...

Then tonight I've just started to get primer on it. Going to put paint on it tomorrow and get it all back together!

Thats it so far, I've only had it since the start of feb so I'm making good progress.

While the coats of primer were drying today i had time to sort the rear door cards, You all know what they look like as standard. I plastic primed and painted them satin black. and I'm in the middle of fitting some Harmon Kardon Speakers from a Land Rover.

So I've just tucked her up for the night, as it was getting dark and I'm shattered. had a good few days on it tho, and still got a couple of days off work to finish it!

Top coat goes on the rear tomorrow, and then put it all together and buff the whole van up!

Tell me what you think.

More updates tomorrow after paint is finished!

Edited 7 April, 201412 yr by polocollector

I do like these :) will be watching this progress, good work

keep up the good work!

So today started with this...

And ended like this! :)

Just got to let it all harden over night and then put windows back in tomorrow.

Took all the rear plastics out as well inbetween coats and sprayed them all black as well!

And finished the wiring for the rear speakers in the back doors :)

Busy day :)

looking good

Very nice.

Little bit of an update, Got it all back together yesterday! (In time for me to nip down the pub for last orders and show my mates)

Seemed to go down well, and pleased with how the popper works. Door opens on its own coz of the rubber, so i dont need to wedge a finger in there! lol.

And a pic of how the inside is looking now, just for the heck of it!

Gonna do a bit of a shoot with it at the weekend, and I'm off to Early Edition on Sunday so will try and wax it before then.

Still got plans for more to be done. But happy for today :)

Well tidy. Great work on the spraying.

Cheers fella. Few more pics.

I cleaned it up ready for Early Edition..

Went to Early Edition today :)

Was a good turn out :)

Cheeky MY CADDY > YOUR CADDY SHOT

What interior is this??

Seat Ibiza Cupra. :)

May need to invest

So, another update.

I got some old RX11's from a special edition Astra. Had them bored out and sand blasted. Going to paint them up in the next week or two .

Could choose between Black, white or silver to go with the van. But then came up with this...

Black... plus this...



I've never sprayed flake before, so we shall see how it goes.

I also had a day off today and so decided to finally start on my plans for a false floor/bed thing in the back. I wanted something solid (but not to heavy and bulky) That made sleeping in there easier but didnt compromise on its abilty to be a van and also, kinda want to keep it looking factory (ish)

So heres what I've done..

Before Pic
We all know what a standard van looks like inside.. so...

After...



I've basically made a frame, and then topped it with MDF.

The middle section that you see, is sort of going to be like a parcel shelf. that can be taken out if i want the space in the back. but then put in if i want it flat to sleep in or camp.

I only put it just above the wheel arches, as this way it leaves maximum head room whilst sitting up, but at the same time makes it as wide as possible whilst laying down (without the arches in the way it then gets a lot wider, and I'm a big lad!)

I made a little "cubby hole" compartment in the front, just to put things in to stop them moving while I'm driving, and the hole at the far end, is a new 10" sub (amp underneath) that i sunk down below the flase floor so that its flush!







Got it all trimmed and smooth so it will still fit with my seat ALLLLL the way back for a driving position (I'm 6"4)



And thats it for now. I've got a huge roll of Black acoustic carpet on its way in the post, and more boxing in to do on the sides tomorrow. but its already solid! Without being to heavy. I never like when you see people chuck in loads of wood and it just is too much and weights it all down. this is as little wood as i could use to make it strong, but not heavy.

Holy moly!!

This is coming along so nice man loving the "boot build" so to speak

Cheers dudes. Got my digital gagues in up front now.

And got a massive roll of black carpet ready to trim the back.

Plus just ordered a stainless decat manifold :)

So another update,

Got this in the post yesterday :)



Stainless de-cat 4 branch manifold! Fitted it yesterday afternoon! Been to meet Mitty and bought a long section of stright through as well. So going to run this decat clean straight through to the back box! :)

also had time to finish carpeting my new rear "false floor/bed thing" What ever you want to call it.





Just need to get a speaker gril for the sub, which is currently covered in the carpet and wrecking the sound. Cut round that and fit. and BOOM! Done! :)

Well happy with it, wood and carpet all together the grand total was about £60! took me 3 days all in to do the work myself, but I'm a bit of a stickler for doing things... Well... as good as I can! :)

Had time for a few snaps at the kinema before a movie with the mrs as well :)





Plans:

Try and fit the straight through in next week or so.
Still on the hunt for a black carpet for the front!
Thinking about flocking the dash and door cards
Making a material cover for the inside of windscreen for when i sleep in it. (Tints cover the sides)
MAYBE a headunit upgrate to a single din DVD flip out thing.
And other performance mods, induction etc... well see :)

Happy day though :)

Nice project :) You are very skilled! I have a similiar car and would like to replace my orange side indicators with white ones like yours. Where did you get them?

Edited 26 August, 201412 yr by MrBlue

Looking good dude, though can't help but think you've sort of takening the point of having a van away with the 'boot' build

Nice project :) You are very skilled! I have a similiar car and would like to replace my orange side indicators with white ones like yours. Where did you get them?

The later polo saloons had clear indicators as standard, so they should be readily available

Is it best to get side inidcators with some wire on and solder them to my car?

damn that looks real nice

Looking good dude, though can't help but think you've sort of takening the point of having a van away with the 'boot' build

Nice project :) You are very skilled! I have a similiar car and would like to replace my orange side indicators with white ones like yours. Where did you get them?

The later polo saloons had clear indicators as standard, so they should be readily available

I disagree! Depends what you need a van for. In my case, its to take the dog out. and the odd bit of lake side camping. For that, it is in fact better. With the floor a little higher it can afford to be wider as it lays on top of the inner wheel arches. So now its spread across is more spacious. PLUS in the event i need to put something big in there, I've designed it so that the whole middle section just pulls out, kind of like a parcel shelf.

But cheers chaps :)

Is it best to get side inidcators with some wire on and solder them to my car?

Yes

So bit of a pic update.

Not had much time to do stuff to the van, been busy driving it!

Went to Cadwell with it a few weeks ago!

Then decided to remove the side stripes, which i think looks loads better now.

She had an oil change etc then i went on a 1330mile round trip up to Scotlands Isle of Skye and it didnt miss a beat! Amazing! I love this van!

When its empty in back and got a quater of a tank of petrol on board, dare i even describe it as... "nippy!" lol. Either way. i love it. Perfect Daily.

As a reward for its hard work (and good behaviour) i bought it some super thick HT leads as well the other day. 9mm ones that are blue to match the van! And thought id do the Spark plugs while i was there. So thats all the distribution changed since I've had it!

Before:

After:

And so it goes on. As far as plans, itll need tyres soon. so maybe some new wheels as I'm bored of these. And still want to get this roof painted black, but I'm holding off on that until i find a sun roof or something i like.

:)

Sweet, I really admire what you can do to a van.. Awesome..